


You Remind Me How To Fly

by GhostyFacey



Category: Wynonna Earp (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-04
Updated: 2020-08-04
Packaged: 2021-03-06 00:47:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,866
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25704589
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GhostyFacey/pseuds/GhostyFacey
Summary: Short and sweet Wayhaught AU
Relationships: Waverly Earp/Nicole Haught
Comments: 8
Kudos: 100





	You Remind Me How To Fly

_Sometimes I think about how different my life would have been if I had met you a lot sooner._

Nicole stares at the ink on the page of her yearbook, any longer and the words might dance for her. 

It wasn’t just the paragraph of sentiment that Waverly Earp scrawled next to a picture of the cheer squad she leads.  
Nicole was also entranced by the smell of the page--an enticing mixture of lavender and vanilla--the same scent that followed Waverly Earp for as long as Nicole can remember.

“She totally wants you, Nic,” Rosita leans against the passenger side of Nicole’s Camaro. The redhead snaps her head in Rosita’s direction.

“Doubt it,” Nicole mutters as she swings open the car door, sliding across the leather seat. 

“How about you just ask her?” Rosita follows suit, pulling her phone out to claim control of the audio.

“When did you even find the time to hook your phone up to my car?”

“I am no stranger to technology, Haught. Besides, not everyone wants to listen to 90’s pop throwbacks all the time,” Rosita teases, putting on something from this decade.

“You’re going to finish senior year without even seizing the opportunity to ask Waverly Earp out?”

“She’s not gay, I think--what if it was just meant in a friendly way?”

“Again, just ask her,” Rosita grunts while unhooking the rag top, it’s gone by the time Nicole pulls out of the school parking lot. 

“So--where to?”

“I am going home--and _you_ are going to talk to Waverly,” Rosita turns the volume up to drown out Nicole’s groans.

xxxxxxxx

Waverly is dancing about her room, singing along to the same five songs she’s had on repeat this whole week. Fridays are usually her favorite days, the promise of a full weekend--and Wynonna is usually out and about with her friends for the night instead of flopping around on Waverly’s bed groaning about how bored she is most days and sometimes even gushing about the latest drama in her friend group. Last weekend was prom, so Waverly’s ears were burning all week with the gossip from the senior party bus mishaps and the events from the after party at Perry Croft’s place.

Needless to say, she liked the quiet tonight.

She hears the doorbell ring and turns quickly on her heel to figure out why Wynonna had come back so soon. 

“Nicole?” The taller girl is silent for a few moments, her hands twitch at her sides--unsure if she should reach out for a handshake or a hug--her hands dive into her pockets instead.

“Hey Waves, is Wynonna home?” the words leave her mouth and regret is giggling in her ear--she knows she’s not here for Wynonna.

“No, she’s out with Doc and Mercedes for the night,” Waverly looks down at the girl’s hands that are buried in denim pockets. It wasn’t that cold right? What gives?

“Cool, cool--I actually wanted to see if you had time to...talk? Hangout I mean--it’s a clear sky tonight and I usually like to take advantage and star gaze,” Nicole’s fingers find a ball of lint to squeeze and roll with enough intensity to disintegrate it. 

“I’d like that, I just have to grab my jacket and lock up,” Waverly reaches for a navy overshirt and pulls down her keys with one finger--wasting no time to lock the door behind her.

Nicole’s hands emerge slowly from her pockets--tension leaves her shoulders--she’s in good shape, for now. She waits for the smaller girl to take the first step and matches her stride to the car--the rag top is already down.

Nicole feels herself ease back into her element once she slides across the cool leather and her hands are resting on the wheel and gear shift. She flashes Waverly a friendly smile before pulling onto the street and accepting that there was no way she was turning back now. 

xxxxxxxx

Waverly notices the scene above and below her. The city lights looked so dim compared to the stars above it. Star gazing was a frequent activity her and her sister did growing up, they didn’t have to venture far--setting up camp on the flatbed of Mama’s car with so many blankets layered atop one another Waverly could have reached up and grabbed the moon if she wanted.  
She instantly regrets not bringing a blanket, Nicole notices her shiver and offers her letterman and Waverly wants to decline but is glad to see Nicole begin to shed the jacket off, leaving her in a black baseball tee.

The night air was crisp, but Nicole was thankful to have had a perfect excuse to take off her jacket since she had started to break a sweat from the bundle of nerves burning in her stomach. Her jacket was a little bigger than Waverly due to her height--but to Nicole, it looked so much better on the girl than herself. 

Nicole reaches for her phone, she had been playing her usual music for late night drives, but noticed that Rosita had made her a playlist earlier that day titled “GOOD MUSIC THAT YOU BETTER PLAY--OR REGRET IT FOREVER, HAUGHT.” Fitting. She taps “shuffle” and doesn’t recognize the song. 

“I’ve been playing this non-stop,” Nicole looks up, Waverly glances at her and looks down at the city below them.

“I just discovered it, actually,” Nicole breathes out, she taps her fingers to the beat, it’s not bad--but it definitely makes her painfully conscious of why she brought Waverly here.

Nicole Haught is no stranger to girls, she was a hot commodity in the days leading up to prom and quite honestly--had been since she first made headlines in the school newspaper as a freshman on the varsity basketball team. Senior year had been a dream, as if it was something straight out of a cheesy coming of age movie. 

But all that didn’t matter in this moment. Nicole feels like her words are crawling down her throat to retreat and her brain is running on dial-up internet.

“These seats lay almost flat,” she snaps her head towards Waverly--who doesn’t take her eyes off the stars while she's almost parallel to the floor of the car. Waverly has wrapped the jacket tighter around herself, the warmth and scent of the leather mixed with vanilla calming her.

Nicole and Waverly had seldom interacted outside of social events. Waverly usually could only get in half of a conversation before Nicole was being whisked away by her teammates or a new girl that was eager for some face time with the basketball star.

Every moment spent with Nicole was never dull. Waverly felt seen and honestly felt safe in the redhead’s presence. They had statistics together for this year--Waverly was Nicole’s go to for extra help...which was for most of the year (or not, depending on which one you ask).

The girls fill the space between them with casual banter. Waverly plans to take a gap year after her senior year and travel a bit, taking in the different cultures and actually use some of the languages she’s picked up and learn a few more. Nicole has a vague idea of what she wants to do, but plans to take advantage of the breadth courses at university this fall to figure everything out. It was no surprise to Waverly that Nicole was going to be playing college ball--Nicole joked (but not actually) about how she would have a ticket with Waverly’s name on it if she ever wanted an excuse to go into the big city. 

“I might take you up on that,” they both laugh and Waverly lets her head tilt to the side, she stretches and leaves her hand to rest at the top of the center console. Nicole feels her body tense and she tries to shake it off with a shallow breath and turns down the volume, leaving another unfamiliar artist to sing barely above a whisper to the girls. 

“Waves?”

“Yeah?”

“I read what you wrote in my yearbook,” Nicole licks her lips and swallows down the anxiety flooding her throat. The air between them stills and it feels like the stars are staring at them instead.

Right now, Waverly hates the quiet.

“Did you mean it?” Nicole’s jaw is shut tight and she meets eyes with Waverly. Regret trying to scramble to its feet but Nicole won’t let it--she refuses to graduate with any what ifs.

Waverly traces the leather stitching of the console, she knew it was risky when she wrote in Nicole’s yearbook. But she wasn’t the type to shy away from her feelings. She knew what she wanted to say, and she knew she wanted to say it to Nicole. 

“I feel comfortable with myself when I’m with you,” Waverly confesses more so to herself than to Nicole, “like this is really me, the best version of me.” It’s common knowledge how involved Waverly is in school. Being head cheerleader is just the tip of the iceberg of activities she’s part of. Nicole could only imagine how Waverly has spread herself so thin--it never occurred to her that Waverly was having to put on a facade every day despite how long and tiresome they were. Nicole managed to make Waverly laugh within minutes of sitting down with her throughout the years. Her laugh was contagious and put Nicole at ease every time without fail. 

“I like spending time with you. Waves-” Nicole slides her hand into the cold but inviting fingers of the girl across from her. 

“I like you,” Nicole surprises herself with how easy it was to say that to Waverly Earp. At this point she doesn’t pay mind to the thought of rejection and it retreats into itself until it completely disappears from her mind. 

“I like you too,” Waverly is smiling now, her thumb making slow, continuous laps from the crease of Nicole’s hand to her knuckle. They share the silence, sinking into the warmth bubbling in their chest--it feels so right, and maybe long overdue. 

“I’m ready if you are,” Nicole says to Waverly and she nods without missing a beat--knowing exactly what Nicole meant by that.

Waverly holds her gaze with Nicole, her hand keeps the pace until she squeezes Nicole’s hand--she starts to lean in, her other hand gently cupping the back of Nicole’s neck. The taller woman meets her halfway, their lips closing the little space between them. Whatever sound left in the night is being drowned out with the thumping of hearts in throats and ears. It seemed like they were floating among the stars for a few moments. They come back down, softly gasping into each other’s mouths from a kiss that felt like it lasted for minutes but actually only lasted for one.

Nicole starts the car to take Waverly back home. She makes a mental note to herself to thank Rosita as she turns up the volume to the playlist she knows would instantly become the soundtrack for their entire summer.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading


End file.
